Technical Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for forming and coating solid particles. Specifically, but not exclusively, the invention can be used for carrying out various types of process, widely used in, for example, the pharmaceutical industry, such as granulation, spheroid-shaping, and coating of solid particles with a film, and other applications besides.
In particular the invention relates to a device comprising a container in which a disc can rotate about a vertical rotation axis: a process gas can be introduced into the container through an annular passage, comprised between the periphery of the disc and a wall of the container, the size of the aperture being adjustable by vertical movements of the disc; internally of the container and above the disc a process liquid or powder can be introduced, which can be for example a product destined to coat the solid particles, or a mixture from which solid particles can be separated (granules, pellets or the like); during the process the solid particles, which are moved by the rotating disc, form a fluid bed of particles supported by the disc itself and the ascending flow of the process gas.